Research Expertise and Interest

inter-organizational relationships, frontline health and human service workers, implementation science, coordination of health and social services

Research Description

Emmeline Chuang is the Milton and Florence Krenz Mack Distinguished Professor in Nonprofit Organization Management and an Associate Professor in the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare and Director of the Mack Center on Nonprofit and Public Sector Management in the Human Services. Dr. Chuang's research focuses on how health and human service organizations can work together to improve service access and well-being of clients, with a specific focus on (1) how the nature and quality of inter-organizational relationships between health and human service organizations affects service access and client outcomes; (2) how managers and other organizational leaders can best support evidence uptake by frontline practitioners; and (3) how the design of work affects provider and staff satisfaction and quality of care. Much of her research has been conducted in the context of national, state, or local evaluations of safety net programs. For example, Dr. Chuang is currently co-leading the statewide evaluation of the CalAIM Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH) initiative, which is focused on developing provider capacity and infrastructure to implement new Enhanced Care Management, Community Supports, and re-entry services within California's Medicaid program. In her role as director of the Mack Center, Dr. Chuang also works closely with public human service agencies in the Bay Area Social Services Consortium on partnered research and capacity development. Dr. Chuang has authored 90+ peer-reviewed publications as well as numerous policy briefs, technical reports, and tools for practitioners. Her research has been funded by agencies such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the William T Grant Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Department of Health Care Services, and the Hitachi Foundation. Prior to her academic career, she worked as an Americorps/Healthcorps volunteer and as a research analyst at a firm specializing in evaluation of health and social service programs. Dr. Chuang has a Ph.D. (Health Policy and Management, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and a B.A. (Psychology and Biology, Harvard University).